The Sun Always Sets in Paradise

Fall turned into winter within a few weeks. During that time, there had been only one more incident with Haden coming up and threatening me. He threatened to hurt Ellie if I ever told her about what he did and was going to do to me. Next was my family if I uttered a word against him. Otherwise, any threatening or attacking me physically practically ended. He did, however, give me either a glare or sickening smirk every time we passed in the hallway. This led me to remain in suspense as to when he would hurt me.

I began to grow nearly silent in that time period. Unless I was alone with Max. Then I was more comfortable and spoke a little bit more. But other than that, few words passed my lips. Because of that, Ellie and I's relationship deteriorated. It was nearly nonexistent. The only thing really keeping us hanging out was the friendship we had with Max. Other than that, we never really spoke on our own terms anymore.

I knew this tore up Ellie. She was becoming less bubbly and herself as time went on. It killed me to know that I was the reason why she never really was the life of the conversation or party anymore. But I couldn't help my silence. I never wanted to talk.

Haden made me silent. The thought of him hurting me was small, but the thought of him hurting my family or Ellie... it killed me.

I wanted to protect them. Keep them safe.
My silence was the only way.